


Things Are Different Now

by Bara_no_Uta



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February 2019, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 18:48:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17627675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bara_no_Uta/pseuds/Bara_no_Uta
Summary: When she closed her eyes, though, her mind ended up wandering. What were Bow and Glimmer thinking of her? Had she been troublesome today? Was she a burden after all? When Adora stopped scratching behind her ears, she opened her eyes again. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”“I know.” In the Horde, it never would have been allowed. But here, it was, and she wanted to. “…Do you not like it?”She started to say yes, she didn’t like it, then hesitated. Perhaps the most accurate response would be that she liked it but didn’t want to like it. She certainly wasn’t going to say that so bluntly though. “It just seems like you probably have better things to be doing.”“What could be more important than this?”---Written for Femslash February 2019, Day One: Opposites





	Things Are Different Now

               “Catra? Are you ready?” Adora called through the door. Though Catra still insisted on sleeping in her bed with her most nights – not that Adora was complaining – she still did technically have her own room, and that was where her belongings were kept. Catra had said she was going to go change and get ready for today’s expedition, but… that was 20 minutes ago, which wasn’t like her.

               There were a few seconds of silence before Catra called back, “Yeah. Almost.”

               Leaning against the wall next to the door, Adora wondered if she should pry a little more. In the Horde, people didn’t talk about their feelings, and it was something she had had to learn to do with Glimmer and Bow. It had come pretty quickly to her, but… then again, so had trusting the two of them. Catra had joined the Rebellion only a few weeks ago, so she was sure it was just going to take her more time.

               And, truthfully, Glimmer and Bow had taken to her a lot more quickly than they had taken to Catra. They were nice to her, but they didn’t _trust_ her, and she was sure Catra felt that. So it made sense if Catra felt uneasy about the four of them going on a mission together.

               Just as Adora was preparing to ask if she could come in, Catra stepped out.

               “Alright. Let’s go.” Catra was already walking toward the entryway where they would all meet.

               Following her, Adora decided to shrug off how long it had taken Catra to get ready. The expedition would probably be a good opportunity for the group to bond.

               Glimmer waved once they were within sight. “There you are!”

               “Hey! Sorry for the delay.” Once having joined them, Adora straightened her posture. “Ready?”

               Everyone nodded, and the four set out to the Whispering Woods. Recently there had been reports of a high number of trees dying, and they needed to investigate the cause and how to address it.

               As they walked, Catra hung back. Not surprised but also wanting to make sure she felt a part of the group, Adora slowed her pace as well. “I’m happy we get to be on the same team again.”

               The waving of Catra’s tail indicated that she was much happier to hear that than her small smile let on as she purred, “We’ll see if you can keep up with me.”

               “Oh, you’re on!” Adora grinned. She had missed this playful banter. Sure, she had it with Bow and Glimmer at times, but… it wasn’t the same.

               It was always different with Catra.

               Catra looked at her, narrowed her eyes with a mischievous smirk, and then broke into a run.

               “Whoa!” Glimmer and Bow just barely were dodged as both women were suddenly sprinting past them.

               “What happened to following the map?! Do you want to get lost?!” Glimmer called out after them, but they were already out of earshot.

               The two of them kept close pace, though they hadn’t even chosen a goal point. After a while, Catra started to lag behind, and when Adora found herself sufficiently in the lead, she stopped. Normally she would gloat a little, but as she turned around, she saw that Catra suddenly looked really exhausted.

               With a frown of concern, she jogged over to her friend. Catra was standing still and struggling to catch her breath – a normal reaction to sprinting, but Adora knew for a fact that Catra had more stamina than that.

               “Catra? Everything okay?” Adora reached out to touch her shoulder.

               She moved away, not wanting to allow the concerned touch. “Yeah. I’m fine. Guess hanging out in the castle instead of training’s got me out of shape.” She shrugged, then looked around. “Glimmer and Bow couldn’t keep up?”

               Whether that was intentionally changing the subject or not, Adora realized then that they should rejoin their friends. She was definitely going to keep an eye on Catra, though. People didn’t get that out of shape in a few weeks’ time.

               When they neared the ‘start line’ of their race, they saw that Bow and Glimmer had decided to wait a while before continuing on, hoping to stay together as a group. “Sorry for that, guys. I’m just so excited to have all three of my best friends together!”

                “Yeah, I know.” Worried though Glimmer had been, it was hard to be mad at Adora when she was so damn happy, and she found her friend’s smile to be contagious.

               Meanwhile, Bow’s attention fell on Catra, who still hadn’t caught her breath. “Are you okay? We can take a break if you need—”

               “I’m fine. Let’s keep moving.”

               Bow and Glimmer looked questioningly at Adora, who hesitated before nodding in agreement, well aware it would take more indication that something was wrong before Catra would be willing to admit it and go home to rest.

               The group continued to walk through the woods, Catra gradually beginning to walk closer to Bow and Glimmer instead of warily keeping her distance. Whether it was due to trust or trying to prove a point, however, Adora didn’t know.

               Bow stopped suddenly, pointing to a mountain nearby. “I see the trees!”

               Sure enough, if they looked carefully, they could see bare trees around the top of the mountain. It was steep, but not so much that walking up it was impossible. Adora gave a worried glance to Catra, who scowled at her upon noticing it.

               The group picked up the pace, eager to reach the trees and see what was going on. The pace slowed as they climbed, all four starting to get a bit tired and out of breath.

               And then, Catra’s legs gave in.

               “Catra!” Adora moved quickly, having stayed close enough that she was able to catch her and hold her up.

               Her face was flushed, breaths coming quickly. “I just lost my balance,” she claimed, though she couldn’t meet Adora’s gaze.

               “My butt you did.” Catra’s entire body leaned into hers, she could feel just how warm Catra was. She cursed herself for letting Catra push herself this far, and she wasn’t going to let her push herself further. “How long have you been feeling sick?”

               “Knock it off. Your friends are probably staring at us.” Catra squirmed as though trying to get away, but her body was too exhausted to put up much of a fight and she soon resumed leaning into her.

               Adora looked up and saw that, indeed, at some point in this Glimmer and Bow had stopped and were looking on in concern. “They’re worried. They care about you.”

               “Just drag me back to the castle already,” she grumbled, knowing that she wasn’t going to win this one. It was bad enough that Bow and Glimmer had seen her vulnerable, and now all she could do was to try to minimize it as best she could.

               She looked to their friends, who nodded in understanding. “Alright. Can you stand on your own for a second?”

               Puzzled, but stubborn enough that she wasn’t about to say no, Catra nodded and slowly stood on her own strength. She felt unsteady, and looked to see what Adora was up to.

_“For the honor of Grayskull!”_

               …Oh. That’s what Adora was up to.

               With little warning, Adora – She-Ra – scooped Catra in her arms. “I’m going to take her back to the castle and stay with her for a while.”

               “Of course.” Bow gave a reassuring smile. “I hope you feel better, Catra.”

               “Me too,” Glimmer added.

               Catra was embarrassed to be held like this – like she was a princess or something! – but at the same time, she found her face flushing further for entirely different reasons. _Stupid Adora and her stupid attractive muscles._ Though, she actually liked regular Adora better. _Her_ Adora. She-Ra just didn’t feel the same as _her_ Adora.

               They walked in silence for a while, Catra settling in with her head rested against Adora’s chest.

               “So how long have you been hiding that you weren’t feeling well?” Adora’s tone was gentle, though, and under her cheek, Catra felt Adora’s chest vibrate as she spoke.

               “…Since yesterday. I thought I could hide it.”

               Adora understood. She could remember all too well what things were like in the Horde. If you could push through your illness, you did. That went particularly for Catra, who always had ended up being under even more scrutiny from Shadow Weaver than the rest of them. “Things aren’t like that anymore. It’s okay not to be strong all the time. Nobody is going to get mad or hurt you for it… I promise.”

               It was hard to believe that things could be so different here. Besides, just because they didn’t hurt Adora, who could turn into an 8-foot-tall muscle woman, didn’t mean they wouldn’t hurt _her_. Or like how Shadow Weaver rarely hurt Adora, but… No, she didn’t want to think about that.

               They were quiet the rest of the way through the woods. When they neared more populated areas, Catra started to squirm. “I want to walk by myself.”

               Well… she could understand that. Even she wouldn’t want to be carried in front of a whole village of people if she could help it. Having rested a bit on the way over may have helped enough that she would be able to get to her room without help, though Adora was definitely going to be watching to make sure she didn’t fall. Adora stopped walking and carefully set her down.

               Catra stood carefully, knowing that if she seemed unable to walk on her own, she would likely have to end up carried again.

               Since the goal was to avoid attracting attention, Adora shifted back from She-Ra into herself before they continued. She stuck close to Catra’s side as they returned to the castle.

               “Do you want to go to your room, or mine?” Adora questioned once they were in the castle. It might seem odd, if not for the fact that Catra had slept in her own room exactly zero days of the time she had been there.

               Catra looked around, wondering. Nobody else knew that they were sleeping together, and despite Adora’s assurances that she had struggled with it when she had first come here too, she wasn’t really keen on that changing. It was likely that Glimmer, Bow, or someone else would want to come to check on her, and they would question what she was doing in Adora’s room. “Mine.”

               “Okay.” That wouldn’t stop her from staying with Catra that night, unless she didn’t want her to; it just meant she would do so in Catra’s room instead of her own.

               Once they were in Catra’s room, Adora led her to the bed. They had already thought ahead and made it less cushy than the palace’s beds tended to be, as sleeping on anything particularly soft at all was already an adjustment from the mattresses in the Horde. Catra had been given the option of one of the cushier beds, but after falling in, immediately decided it was not for her… and tore it apart with her claws.

               “I’m going to get you some water. Do you want to change into something more comfortable?”

               “No. This is fine.” In the Horde, one had to consider themselves battle-ready at all times, so none of her clothes were all that much more comfortable than any others anyway.

               Adora left the room, returning several minutes later with a wet washcloth and a glass of water. She found Catra still sitting up, on top of the blanket, knees hugged to her chest and arms folded. “Here,” she offered, holding out the water.

               Catra accepted it and drank a few sips, her ears folding back further and tail tucking closer as she did so. When she had drank what she could for now, she put the cup down on the floor. She didn’t like being taken care of. It made her feel weak and useless.

               “I want to show you something that Glimmer showed me when I got sick a while back,” Adora said. “I need you to lay down though.” And Catra needed to rest, so she probably should lay down anyway.

               Curiosity motivated her to cooperate. She laid down and put the blanket over her body, sure that Adora would insist on doing it for her if she didn’t do it herself. What Adora could possibly want to show her with a _towel_ , she couldn’t even begin to guess, but she could only assume it had something to do with the washcloth Adora held.

               “It’s going to feel really cold for a second,” Adora warned as she moved Catra’s hair out of the way, not wanting it to be too startling. As she suspected, even now that they were inside and not doing physical activity of any sort, Catra was burning up. She folded the washcloth and placed it on her forehead.

               It definitely was startling for a second, the difference in temperature sharp, but it was also relieving.

               Smiling, Adora lightly scratched behind her ears in the way she knew tended to help her relax. “You should sleep, if you’re able. I’ll stay.”

               It occurred to her that if Adora stayed, she could get sick too. But it was probably a little late to think of that now. “…Okay.” It felt strange and vulnerable to close her eyes with somebody else around who was not also closing their eyes. But if it was Adora, she was okay with it.

               When she closed her eyes, though, her mind ended up wandering. What were Bow and Glimmer thinking of her? Had she been troublesome today? Was she a burden after all? When Adora stopped scratching behind her ears, she opened her eyes again. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

               “I know.” In the Horde, it never would have been allowed. But here, it was, and she wanted to. “…Do you not like it?”

               She started to say yes, she didn’t like it, then hesitated. Perhaps the most accurate response would be that she liked it but didn’t _want_ to like it. She certainly wasn’t going to say that so bluntly though. “It just seems like you probably have better things to be doing.”

               “What could be more important than this?” With a reassuring smile, she went to Catra’s other side and climbed in next to her.

               Having Adora close felt familiar and safe. Enough that she could even open up. It was only Adora who got to hear her feelings, if anybody. Adora, who could often read her well enough to know approximately how she felt even without being told. “I hate being sick. I’m tired of feeling like a burden.”

               “You are not, and have never been, a burden. Not to me.”

               Tossing the washcloth on the floor, she rolled over so her back was to Adora. “Yeah. Okay.”

               Adora placed a hand on Catra’s shoulder. She wished she knew how to help her believe those words. Maybe it would just take time and showing her, but seeing Catra in pain, it was hard to accept it as ‘just taking time.’ How could she show her _now_? How could she convey how much she cared? After a few moments of thought, she slipped her arms around Catra. “You’re my friend. Friends help each other.”

The fact that this felt like ‘more than friendship’ was something that neither of them fully understood yet. The Horde didn’t even have love marriages; reproduction was the only reason for romantic partnership and was based on who was likely to have the strongest children together.

               She relaxed her body, pressing into Adora’s, which felt cool in comparison to hers right now. “When I get better, can we go on another mission?”

               “Of course. There are plenty more where that came from!” She wondered if Catra was feeling guilty that she had left the mission early for her sake.

               “Okay.” She closed her eyes and tried again to fall asleep. Somehow, with Adora right there, it became easier to shut out the painful thoughts.

               Adora was still as she felt Catra’s breathing slow into sleep. Once certain she was asleep, Adora closed her own eyes, deciding that a nap sounded like a nice idea. She didn’t know much about how to help Catra feel better, physically or emotionally, but the one thing she could do was to make sure Catra knew she wasn’t going through it alone.


End file.
